A variety of different systems and strategies for monitoring and controlling the circulation of articles from libraries and other lending institutions have been known for many years. In decades past, lending institutions typically maintained a card bank or the like in which a circulation status of each article of media in the library collection was recorded, and manually updated as articles were checked out from and returned to the library. Such strategies worked fairly well for tracking the circulation of traditional media materials such as books. Recent years have seen an enormous increase in the number of electronic and magnetic media articles such as CD's, DVD's, and audio and videotapes in library collections. While card banks can be and have been used for any type of media, they provide essentially no security against unauthorized checkout or theft of media materials, which is particularly problematic in the case of relatively expensive and highly sought after electronic and magnetic media.
In an attempt to better manage control over the circulation of media materials, libraries began equipping certain articles with security devices some time ago. As security technology has evolved, and become more affordable, some or all of the articles in many library collections have been equipped with individual security devices. Radiofrequency (“RF”) tags and the like are now commonly coupled with media in library collections. If a person attempts to exit the library with a media article whose security tag is “armed” detection devices typically placed at library exits may activate an alarm.
In the case of certain media articles, an additional security mechanism in the form of a lockable case may be provided. The packaged unit of the case and media storage component such as a computer readable disk may be equipped with a mechanical lock for the case, and also with one or more electronic security features. The electronic security features must be disabled for the media unit to pass through the security detector without tripping an alarm, and the locked case provides a disincentive to even attempting to do so. The locked case also provides an impediment to fooling the library by switching the media article such as a disk within one case for a different media article.
The implementation of such advanced security and monitoring strategies has made checking out media materials somewhat more complicated. In the case of locked, packaged units of media, a patron or library staff member typically has to perform conventional checkout procedures, disable the electronic security device(s) and unlock the case. Various case unlocking mechanisms are commercially available. These mechanisms may be integrated with a self-checkout station in an attempt to minimize the need for staff supervision and/or intervention.
One known type of case unlocking mechanism utilizes a magnet configured to unlock a magnetic security device of a case component for an article of media. The magnet is positioned in a housing, and retractable pins or the like prevent access, so that the magnet may only be used for case unlocking if an electronic authorization is generated to cause the pins to retract. A patron will typically initiate a self-checkout procedure at a computer terminal, place the media unit of interest on a scanning pad to identify it and disable an electronic security device, then position the media unit to interact with the magnet if so authorized. While this type of system has been adopted in some libraries, it generally requires a relatively lengthy checkout procedure for each individual media unit. Moreover, once the magnet unlocking mechanism is made available for use, such as by retracting the pins, no restriction on what media unit can be unlocked exists. In other words, a patron could checkout one packaged media unit, but then use the magnetic unlocking mechanism to unlock a different unit. This creates opportunities for fraudulent checkout and theft.
Other types of case unlockers use a movable magnet rather than retractable pins or the like. The magnet is movable within a housing when so authorized by a computer handling checkout procedures. Like the foregoing example, no restriction on the particular media unit to be unlocked exists, and the checkout process may be onerous, particularly where multiple units of media are to be processed for releasing to circulation.